The Nestle Hotline

Before class on Tuesday I had actually heard my Mom talking about the hotline while the on the phone with a friend, I shrugged off her comments since shes a little crazy.  After reading this blog post, I think that Nestle had a really fun idea to spark intrest in thier new product as well as the company as a whole.  I have always loved Nestle chocolates as well as Haagen Dazs ice cream and thier cookie dough but after reading about this hotline it makes me like the company even more! The hotline shows a fun and creative side to Nestle and that the company is really trying to have its customers enjoy their products.  Also after reading the article, I was extremely inclined to call the hotline and have a listen for myself but unfortunately the line was busy the numerous times I tried to get through.  It seems to me that the hotline was designed cleverly by a public relations person at Nestle and is having no trouble reaching the masses through word of mouth.
check it outtttt :)

Bad Mouthing Blog

I have to admit that I was a little turned off by The Bad Pitch Blog.  All the posts seemed kind of harsh and unnecessarily critical.  I will say that some of the pitches talked about on the blog were not the best pitches but I also think they didn't deserve to be treated like the worst.  The people who host The Bad Pitch Blog failed to give any explanation of who they are or what experience they have in determining what constitutes a good pitch or a bad pitch.  Who's to say that this blog wasn't made by a middle aged man sitting in a coffee shop? It's hard for me to enjoy reading this blog when its entire purpose is to exist on bad mouthing other people and their pitch tactics.  If the posts maybe criticized the pitches but then showed how the pitch could have been done properly then this blog might have been useful but it didnt.  Maybe The Bad Pitch Blog should work on fixing its own pitching tactics before criticizing other people.

http://badpitch.blogspot.com/

buzzkillllll

I'm glad Tiger wrote down this speech word-for-word;  it was super creative, informative, and difficult to memorize!  I can't believe I was excited for this press conference....

southwest mistake

I may be biased towards this article since I travel a lot and have never flown with another airline besides Continental, but I think it was simply rude for Southwest to deny Kevin Smith a seat on the plane.  I understand Southwest's argument that overweight people only occupying one seat are a safety issues and basically a hassle to their other passengers but the attendant’s who denied him a seat should have known better than to publicly humiliate a Hollywood director.  James states in the CNN article that he could properly fasten his seat belt and lower the arm rests so he never should have been asked to leave the aircraft.  It's a sad truth but I'm sure many fans of Kevin James' as well as people who are overweight are going to have second thoughts about booking with Southwest in the future.  In this situation the PR people of Southwest can try their best but there isn't really an easy way out except to continually apologize to Kevin James and many throw in some free flights or frequent flyer miles

Publicity Stunts for the Y Generation

In 2009 T-Mobile was inspired by Improv Everywhere's freeze mob in NYC so they staged their very own flash mod in Liverpool Street Station in London. After a video of the dance was posted on YouTube, the video quickly went viral and even spread to evening news stations. T Mobile was able to promote their name in a creative way.  People who were in the actual station were taking pictures and videos to send to friends and probably discussed the phenomenon with everyone they knew.  The stunt isn't going to necessarily make you cancel your current cell phone plan and join T Mobile but it will definitely make you remember their name.   

In 2007 PETA released with winter anti-fur campaign featuring the popular actress Eva Mendes.  For the ad Mendes posed completely naked with the tag line, "I'd rather go naked than wear fur."  The ad was displayed most in Times Square, around the rest of New York and eventually made its way to the billboards of Los Angeles.  After Mendes took it off for PETA, other celebrities like Naomi Campbell and Khloe Kardashian followed suit.  The ad was extremely controversial but it grabbed the attention of fur wearers across America.  There is no way to judge if the ad actually stopped people from wearing fur but it helped to publicize PETA and all its celebrity endorsers. 

 I'm pretty sure everyone remembers the Balloon Boy publicity stunt of 2009.  A mid-western family pitched a television pilot about the family of storm hunters and was denied.  As a result, the family notified local authorities that their six year old son was missing and apparently in a balloon soaring above them.  The family became big news because government officials were called in to help get the boy safely out of the sky.  The hoax was exploited on Larry King Live when the 6 year old claimed "You guys said we did it for the show."  The parents were mortified and tried to play it off like he didn't know what he was talking about but it was apparent that the entire event had been planned by the family in an effort to get a television show. 

One of my favorite publicity stunts was performed by the Beatles in January of 1969.  As a farewell performance, The Beatles set up a stage on the roof their Apple Label Records office.  The show generated a lot of attention from the people on the streets of London.  Word spread quickly of the impromptu show and a crowd of anxious fans quickly formed.  The show was eventually shut down by the police but the photo taken that day is still famous today.  Many musicians have tried this publicity stunt after The Beatles with an effort to recreate the publicity that followed the performance but none have been able to top The Beatles. 

stunts & blunders

The article on PR Stunts was interesting since I had never heard of any of the stunts.  The Taco Bell stunt was definitely my favorite because it was amusing to think that America believed Taco Bell would be able to buy the Liberty bell and proceeded to freak out about it.  The stunt was obviously a fake because it was so ostentatious and it was April Fools Day!  The JMP Creative stunt was just plain dumb, the guy tried to drop his magician career and start a marketing business but failed miserably when he almost died during his first public appearance.  I think the idea of the Vodafone executives having people run across the field naked was hilarious.  But it also reminded me of a professional sports game when a guy ran across the game mid-play wearing nothing but Nike sneakers.
Soccer Streaker - The most popular videos are here

finally some GOOD luck!

So this past weekend for me has just been excitement nonstop. On Friday my step dad announced that for our summer vacation we will be returning to one of my favorite islands, St. Maarten!  It's absolutely gorgeous down there and will be incredibly warm since my family will be going in August.

Then on Saturday night I went with my Aunt, Uncle and 8 of their friends to the Ralphie May show at Banana's Comedy Club in Hasbrouck Heights. The show was incredibly obscene and vulgar but hilarious non-the-less. Ralphie recently underwent triple by pass surgery and has lost 60 lbs already. I hope the surgery continues to work towards bettering his health!

Sunday night was definitely the best night of the weekend though because ... drum roll please .... I bought a new car! I've been driving an old little saturn for 3 years before I got into an accident in November. A woman ran a stop sign right into the passenger side of my car and basically totaling it. I began looking for new cars and thought it was hopeless so I had my insurance company fix the car hoping I would be able to sell it in the spring. Fate took control and put the car I've been looking for right on display of Rt. 46 on my way to school. I checked out the car and it was exactly what I had been looking for! Low mileage, great condition, good price. I am now the proud owner of a 2007 Ford Fusion SE Limited Edition :)

To continue the weekends good run, my step dad decided to return to work til Monday morning after being home from work for 3 weeks to recover from surgery. 3 Weeks ago, Joe went into Lenox Hill to Laparoscopically removed a cancerous tumor from his kidney. Once the surgery began the doctors realized they couldn't perform the surgery as planned due to the size of the tumor. Unfortunately they ended up having to cut a 10 inch incision on his size increasing his recovery time from 3 weeks to 6 weeks. Fortunately the doctors were able to completely remove the tumor and he is healing nicely.

Lastly, I finally booked my spring break trip! Three friends and myself will be driving up to Jiminy peak mountain in the Berkshires. I've been there before and it's a teeny town in Mass but the mountain is nice. I'll be there for four days and three nights with two days of boarding. I'm excited!

I hope everyone is enjoying their week and the unexpected snow!